According to the Moscow Police Headquarters responsible for maintaining order during the meeting, over 25,000 people have participated in the meeting. Chair of the Moscow Trade Union Federation Mikhail Nagaitsev said members of 43 trade unions, veterans, representatives of youth movements and children's organizations participated in the event.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov appealed to state authorities to invest in the development of hi-tech industry; otherwise, the country would become a raw material appendage of the West. "And then, they will strangle us," Luzhkov draw a dismal picture of the future.
He added, Moscow authorities would never allow that to happen, though, and promised to develop sciences, hi-tech and "advanced production technologies" in the city.
Addressing the public, chair of the Moscow Trade Union Federation Mikhail Nagaitsev said, "we have gathered today to say 'yes' to decent salaries and 'no' to poorly planned reforms."
Chairman of the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions Mikhail Shmakov said, "a worker should not be poor."
"When state authorities finally realize that, Russia will become a prosperous and strong country, respected in the world," Shmakov said during his speech at the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky.
The trade union leader demanded that the government should provide Russian people "with decent jobs, decent work places and decent salary."
"This is the goal pursued by trade unions," Shmakov emphasized.
He also appealed to the participants of the meeting "to demand from authorities to stop the shameful practices of delays in salary payments."
